526 Transactions of the American Institute. 



the course of straw, and keep on eating through the hay, till you 

 can reach the pails of milk. Who would not exclaim, " What a 

 palpable absurdity ! " Precisely so it is with some kinds of deep 

 plowing. When all the mold is turned under deep, the young 

 plants are required to force their way through the straw and the 

 hay to the nourishing pabulum which should have been kept on the 

 surface. If a soil that is poor in humus, or vegetable matter, be 

 plowed deep, by turning the stratum of mold a foot or more 

 beneath the subsoil, an immense quantity of vegetable matter must 

 be added, and must be thoroughly mingled with the soil before 

 that land can be brought to its accustomed state of productiveness. 

 Deep plowing, however thorough and complete it may be per- 

 formed, can never impart fertility to the land that is sadly deficient 

 in the elements of productiveness. On the contrary, if the elements 

 of fertility are locked up mechanically in the soil, the plow will 

 render material aid in making that fertility available to the roots 

 of growing plants. Touching the soil alluded to, that should never 

 be plowed; it is sufficient to state that when the surface soil and 

 the entire subsoil are so mellow and porous that the roots of grass, 

 grain and trees will meet with little resistance when spreading 

 through the upper and under stratum, the most economical, pro- 

 fitable and scientific mode of tilling such ground is to scarify the 

 surface with a wheat cultivator, that may be run from two to six 

 inches deep. By this manner of cultivation, the best part of the 

 seed bed is prepared on the surface. If there is any mellow soil 

 or rich earth, and it is in limited supply, every farmer and gardener 

 who understands the laws of vegetable physiology, Avill say at once 

 that it should be on the surface. Then, let the process of fertilization 

 and thorough pulverization be pushed downwards as fast as the land 

 can be changed into a mellow and fertile seed bed. Were some 

 land plowed deep, by turning up the substratum, vegetable matter 

 and coarse manure would be required, equal to five or even ten 

 times the cash value of the land. To carry out a s3-stepi of deep 

 plowing, as is sometimes recommended, in all places, would be 

 attended with the most unsatisfactory results, and would tend to 

 bring deep plowing into utter contempt. Let me make a single 

 suggestion, which will apply to all kinds of soil, and which will 

 always be a reliable guide in plowing or spading deep. It is this: 

 Keep the most fertile stratum of earth at the surface. If the 

 ground two feet beneath the surface is richer than the super-stratum, 

 turn up a new layer to the top. But, if available fertility dimin- 



